Magistrates’ Court in Kuching charges man with murder of Indonesian satay stall worker

KUCHING (Dec 9): The Magistrates’ Court here on Tuesday charged a 35-year-old man with murder, in connection with the case of a 37-year-old Indonesian, who was found dead by the road at Jalan Lumba Kuda, off Jalan Penrissen Lama last month.

The accused indicated his understanding when the charge under Section 302 of the Penal code, read together with Section 34 of the same Code, was read to him before Magistrate Nursyaheeqa Nazwa Radzali.

Section 302 provides for the death penalty or imprisonment for a term between 30 and 40 years upon conviction, and if the death penalty is not imposed, the offender shall also be punished with no fewer than 12 strokes of the cane.

No plea was taken, and the court had fixed Jan 27 next year for pre-trial case management pending post-mortem report.

No bail was offered to the accused.

According to the charge, the offence is alleged to have been committed at the road, where the body was found, between 1.47am and 2.37am on Nov 23.

In relation to the case, a 60-year-old man was charged under Section 201 of the Penal Code for allegedly directing the deletion of closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage linked to the case.

The offence is said to have been committed at a hotel in Jalan Sekama here, at 1am on Nov 25.

The man pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him before Magistrate Ling Hui Chuan, and the court had fixed Jan 12 next year for pre-trial case management.

The court also granted bail of RM2,000, under one local surety.

Deputy public prosecutors Muhammad Afiq Safly Nor Kazly and Ahmad Fauzulutfi Suriani prosecuted the cases separately, while both the accused represented by counsel Daniel Ling.

Earlier media reports had stated that the Indonesian man was employed by the first accused, who runs a satay stall at a food court at Jalan Sekama here, which is owned by the older accused.